Spurned boyfriend who burned his ex’s bunny to death in revenge (and destroyed whole house)
A VENGEFUL teenager killed his ex-girlfriend’s rabbit when he doused the hutch in petrol and set it alight.
Ethan Andrews, 18, started the blaze after he was dumped by Lauren Reynolds for his ‘controlling and possessive’ behaviour.
He also put her life at risk when the resulting explosion gutted her family’s home and almost spread to the property next door.
The pair had bonded over a shared love of animals, and met while studying animal management at Shuttleworth College in Bedfordshire.
But Miss Reynolds, 18, ended the four- month relationship when Andrews became obsessive – only to take him back when he swore he would change.
Speaking of the incident for the first time, she said: ‘He told me things would be different, but after a few days he went back to being really paranoid and trying to tell me who I could and couldn’t speak to. He’d also taken to ringing me 20 times in a row to ask what I was doing and he’d go crazy if I didn’t get back to him straight away. So I ended it again – this time for good.’
Andrews drove to his ex-girlfriend’s home in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire on the night of July 16 last year and set fire to the hutch where she kept her beloved rabbit – named Spice.
Miss Reynolds was sleeping inside along with her mother Lisa, 54, father Darren, 47, and brother Alex, 21. The explosion woke the family and their neighbours – including a pregnant woman – who all managed to escape.
But Spice was killed, along with a pet degu – a small rodent. The family’s dog – a husky-cross called Laska – died weeks later from smoke inhalation. Three other degus, two geckos and a hedgehog survived after Miss Reynolds’s father braved the flames to rescue them.
The fire destroyed their living room, as well as the garden decking and wrecked windows and doors – causing £32,000 worth of damage to the house and leaving it uninhabitable for ten months.
The family told police of their suspicions about Andrews and he was arrested hours later after a neighbour’s CCTV footage was reviewed. They also
‘I wish I had never met him’
found a jerry can and a lighter in his car. Andrews, of Clifton, Bedfordshire, admitted reckless arson and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and was jailed for 32 months at St Albans Crown Court.
He avoided a longer prison term because he was only 17 at the time of the offence.
Miss Reynolds said: ‘He’s sick. I wish I had never met him. I now suffer with really bad anxiety, PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] and I have to have therapy. My rabbit Spice was my best friend and Ethan knew that. He targeted my innocent bunny just to get back at me.’
The family recently moved back after living in cramped temporary accommodation.
Detective Constable Colin Workman, of Hertfordshire police, said: ‘It was an act of pure callousness to target a rabbit.’